Santa Fe Springs shooting suspects arrested after chase, crash

SANTA FE SPRINGS - Two men shot up an occupied car Wednesday before leading police on a high-speed chase that ended with a crash, authorities said.

Benny Gamboa, 21, of Pico Rivera and Dennis Legrange, 28, of Whittier, were booked on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the incident, Whittier police Lt. Randy Inman said.

An officer was on patrol just before 9:45 a.m. when he heard shots around Santa Fe Springs Road and Ann Street and spotted a four-door sedan being driven by Gamboa leaving the area, Inman said.

The officer followed the vehicle and initiated a pursuit when it failed to pull over, the lieutenant said.It was soon determined that the men inside the car had just shot at a Scion containing three men, striking the car four times but not injuring the occupants, Inman said.

The car sped down Los Nietos Road at about 80 mph before colliding with a northbound vehicle at the intersection with Norwalk Boulevard, police said. The suspects’ car overturned.

The two men inside the flipped sedan were arrested, Inman said. Gamboa was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries suffered in the crash.

A woman who was driving the vehicle the suspects’ crashed into was also hospitalized with apparently non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

The motive in the shooting was not clear, police said.

The two vehicles stopped near one another at a stop sign before the suspects followed the victims and opened fire, Inman said. The victims, three men on their lunch break from work, did not know why they were fired upon.

Just before crashing, the suspects sped past the scene of another crash Friday which left two young boys dead and their father seriously injured on Los Nietos Road, just east of Norwalk Boulevard, officials said.

Police called for a search dog from a surrounding agency as they hunted for the gun involved in the shooting, which was not found Wednesday, officials said.

According to county booking records, Legrange was being held in lieu of $1 million bail pending his initial court appearance. Information regarding Gamboa’s bail was not available, as he was treated for injuries at a hospital before being booked into jail.